Latest news with #MAGA-infused
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
A PIO physician treats Harvard grads to life lessons
A PIO physician treats Harvard grads to life lessons TOI correspondent from Washington: By his own account, graduates at Harvard University's convocation ceremony on Thursday deserved to hear from a star, a legend, a Nobel prize winner, or perhaps even the Pope. But tasked with delivering the commencement speech by the university's embattled president Alan Garber, currently locked in an epic battle with the Trump White House, Abraham Verghese, physician and author of Indian-origin, proceeded to dissect MAGA-infused USA with the precision of a surgeon, although he is an infectious disease specialist. "When legal immigrants and others who are lawfully in this country including so many of your international students worry about being wrongly detained and even deported, perhaps it's fitting that you hear from an immigrant like me," Dr Verghese told the graduating class, recalling a journey that brought him to America from Ethiopia, where he was born, via India, from where his parents hailed and from where he obtained his MBBS (from Madras Medical College). He recalled that both countries went through authoritarian rule, and the journey had led him to an appreciation of American values that were now under siege. Without once mentioning the US President's name or MAGA, Abraham told the largely anti-Trump assembly that a cascade of draconian government measures had already led to uncertainty, pain, and suffering in America and across the globe—and more has been threatened. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Dermatologista recomenda: simples truque elimina o fungo facilmente Acabe com o Fungo Undo "The outrage you must feel, the outrage so many feel, also must surely lead us to a new appreciation. Appreciation for the rule of law and due process, which till now we took for granted—because this is America after all! And appreciation for those committed to truth—veritas--at a time when the absence of truth has come to feel almost normal," he said to applause. Author of acclaimed novels going back to his 1994 debut with My Own Country: A Doctor's Story, about his experience with the onset of AIDS in America, Verghese said a part of what makes America great is that "it allows an immigrant like me to blossom here, just as generations of other immigrants--and their children--have flourished and contributed in every walk of life, working to keep America great." America also allowed this immigrant to find his voice as a writer, he said, citing the novelist E.L. Doctorow, who wrote, 'It is the immigrant hordes who keep this country alive, the waves of them arriving year after year. Who believes in America more than the people who run down the gangplank and kiss the ground?' The new grads tittered at the many subtle digs Verghese took at the White House occupant, including referring to "the trait of reading fiction in some of the best physicians and leaders I have met, including your President, I mean your university's if you don't read fiction, my considered medical opinion is that a part of your brain responsible for active imagination atrophies." He also referred to courage of the AIDS-afflicted he had treated, and in an oblique dig at MAGA told the graduating class "They taught me about manhood—not the caricature of manliness, not the posturing that has become so fashionable lately—but the manliness that allowed them to be compassionate, generous, and steadfast even in the depths of their suffering."
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Not-So-Secret Society Whose Members Run State
If you want to know who's running the State Department these days, it helps to peruse the website of a relatively new, conservative-leaning organization called the Ben Franklin Fellowship. The group's roster includes Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau, top officials in bureaus such as consular affairs, and even an acting undersecretary or two. The fellows include current and former members of the foreign service, as well as other international affairs specialists. And while the Fellowship describes itself as nonpartisan, its right-of-center views are obvious: It emphasizes goals such as border security; opposes typical diversity, equity and inclusion practices; and advocates for the careful use of U.S. resources abroad. I have had a number of conversations with founders of the Fellowship, and they clearly cast it as a refuge for a group they believe is marginalized in U.S. diplomacy. 'It is a network of people who are not progressive and who have felt as though they've not had a forum like so many others in the State Department over the decades,' said Matthew Boyse, a Fellowship founder and a former foreign service officer. But many career U.S. diplomats are suspicious of the organization. They warned me that it could politicize a foreign service that is supposed to be nonpartisan and undermine policymaking by promoting MAGA-infused ideology over facts. Some worry that joining the Fellowship is an unofficial requirement to get ahead in their careers under President Donald Trump, and that its anti-DEI message will hurt women and minorities in a State Department historically dominated by white men. Some also question the qualifications of Fellowship members who have gotten plum assignments. The Fellowship 'seems like a thinly veiled MAGA loyalist roster — like, sign up and you'll be 'one of the good ones,'' said one State Department staffer, who, like others, I granted anonymity because they didn't want to get fired for talking to a reporter. I'll be frank: I wasn't that interested in writing about the Fellowship when I first heard about it months ago. My initial view was: So what if a bunch of right-leaning diplomats link up? It's hardly the only group to cater to national security types across the political spectrum — from the left-leaning Truman National Security Project to the right-leaning Hudson Institute. Freedom of association is still a thing, even for diplomats who, regardless of their personal views, are expected to implement the policies of whoever is president. But I soon concluded that the Fellowship is distinct in its heavy focus on reforming the State Department itself. It is intent on getting people with very specific views into the department, an approach that could affect U.S. foreign policy decades into the future. And I simply couldn't ignore the Fellowship after May 2. That was the day the State Department held its annual Foreign Affairs Day celebration. The event came amid anxiety at State over a reorganization plan that threatens many jobs and Trump's destruction of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Several key speakers were Ben Franklin Fellows. And things got … awkward. The speakers included Lew Olowski, State's acting human resources chief, who touted the Fellowship in his remarks. Olowski's appointment has been derided by diplomats who argue he is too junior and not qualified for the job. Then there was Phillip Linderman. He's a retired diplomat and another Fellowship founder, and he was given a major prize, the Foreign Service Directors General's Cup. At one point, Linderman told the audiencehe was accepting the award on behalf of 'overlooked' foreign service officers who had 'been intentionally passed over for promotion and assignments abroad' due to 'extreme' DEI policies. Some audience members walked out at this point. Many watching online reached out to me, aghast at Linderman's comments, which they said implied women and minorities who received promotions hadn't deserved them. Also speaking was Landau, the deputy secretary of State. He repeatedly raised the concept of respect and said he was disappointed by the earlier walkouts. But his remarks drew heckles from some audience members who asked why the Trump administration was disrespecting U.S.-allied nations and employees of USAID. Such interruptions were a shocking breach of decorum for an audience of diplomats. In subsequent interviews with the Fellowship's founders — Boyse, Linderman and Simon Hankinson — I've tried to figure out what drives the Fellowship and how much power it truly wields. The answer is, like so much of the world right now, murky. The Fellowship's founders insist they are not trying to inject partisan politics into U.S. diplomacy and that the last thing they want is to create a right-wing 'deep state' inside the government. 'We very much believe in the constitutional order, which is that the federal bureaucracy works for the president, and it doesn't have a policy interest, a legitimate policy interest, outside of what the president wants to do,' Linderman told me. But the Fellowship's leaders argue conservative views are barely represented within the foreign service, which undermines policy debates. So while suspicious diplomats worry the Fellowship will skew policy debates toward one ideology, the Fellowship's leaders say the debates are already unhealthily skewed toward another. Both Hankinson and Linderman said they'd separately thought of setting up a network of conservative diplomats years ago, but Linderman did much of the early legwork that eventually led to the Fellowship. Boyse connected the two men. At State, there have long been different kinds of employee associations. They include 'affinity groups' that link people of different faith, ethnic and other backgrounds, including military veterans. Many on the right saw such groups as vehicles for progressive ideas. The current Trump administration haseffectively disbanded many such groups on grounds that they promote gender and racial ideology. For a variety of often logistical reasons, Boyse, Hankinson and Linderman chose to create the Fellowship as an independent nonprofit outside the State Department. That choice also gives the group a bit more freedom than being under State's auspices. Linderman told me he was especially motivated to create the Fellowship, which was up and running by last year, during the Joe Biden presidency. That administration, he said, radicalized the State Department leftward, especially in its promotion of DEI policies and, in his view, a lax treatment of migration. (Linderman is affiliated with the Center for Immigration Studies, which wants to restrict immigration.) When I pressed Linderman about his comments at the award ceremony, he pointed to the Fellowship's roster, which includes women and minorities. These fellows believe in the group's principles and resent being thought of as 'DEI hires,' he said. He and the other founders stress that they don't oppose diversity in general but that it's unfair for a person's immutable characteristics to be given more weight than another's accomplishments in, say, promotions. Linderman also told me he was surprised to receive the award but was told — he wouldn't say by whom — that his work on the Fellowship affected his selection. Despite diplomats' suspicions, I couldn't find proof that the Fellowship is outright directing State Department policy or personnel decisions — at least not as an organization. U.S. diplomats in multiple time zones told me they'd not seen formal, written State communications that mentioned the group. A senior State official familiar with the situation also said he's not heard the group mentioned by top officials as a must-consult entity. But these are early days, and the Fellowship is taking actions designed to seed long-term conservative influence in the diplomatic ranks. Even if creating a conservative 'deep state' is not a formal goal of the Fellowship's founders, a future Democratic president may find a foreign service that's far less amenable to their goals. The State Department would not directly answer my questions about the Fellowship's role, including whether a person's affiliation with the group affects personnel decisions. But it sent me a statement that said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his team 'value the insights, ideas, and leadership provided by members of the Ben Franklin Fellowship. We're grateful for their service to our country.' The Fellowship's founders said there have been one-on-one talks between top State officials and individuals in their group at various settings, but they described that as typical Washington networking. And fellows such as Landau and Olowski, for instance, are likely to have significant influence over hiring given their official positions at State. Hankinson, who also spent years in the foreign service, said the overlap between the group's Fellows and the State staffing chart comes down to math. The pool of current and former U.S. diplomats known to have views that match Trump's is small. 'One of our primary goals is to serve as a network to connect career diplomats and other foreign policy professionals who share the same values — including openly advocating for the U.S. national interest in foreign affairs,' Hankinson said. He added that if a Democratic administration sought Fellowship members' suggestions for hires, they'd offer them ideas, too. 'I suspect that won't happen,' he chuckled. I pointed out that Olowski is much less experienced than past diplomats who've overseen human resources at State. How is that a merit-based promotion? But Hankinson noted that Olowski had the role on an acting basis and argued that he had a solid résumé. Hankinson also said many political appointees under other administrations were underqualified for their roles. The Fellowship's concerns about putting merit over DEI are centered more on the career foreign service, not political appointees. (Olowski did not respond to my request for comment; neither did Landau.) The Fellowship has largely been funded out of its founders' pockets, but it is seeking grants and accepting donations, Hankinson said. One superficial but potentially tricky challenge it will face is differentiating itself from multiple other programs named after Franklin, who is considered America's first diplomat. (That's one reason the group uses 'Ben' instead of 'Benjamin' in its name.) The organization has multiple levels of affiliation, including fellows, members and people who are on the mailing list. Becoming a fellow or a member involves vetting to ensure the applicant agrees with the basic principles of the group, Hankinson said. At the moment, he added, 'we're seeing a lot of interest.'
Politico
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Politico
The Not-So-Secret Society Whose Members Run State
If you want to know who's running the State Department these days, it helps to peruse the website of a relatively new, conservative-leaning organization called the Ben Franklin Fellowship. The group's roster includes Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau, top officials in bureaus such as consular affairs, and even an acting undersecretary or two. The fellows include current and former members of the foreign service, as well as other international affairs specialists. And while the Fellowship describes itself as nonpartisan, its right-of-center views are obvious: It emphasizes goals such as border security; opposes typical diversity, equity and inclusion practices; and advocates for the careful use of U.S. resources abroad. I have had a number of conversations with founders of the Fellowship, and they clearly cast it as a refuge for a group they believe is marginalized in U.S. diplomacy. 'It is a network of people who are not progressive and who have felt as though they've not had a forum like so many others in the State Department over the decades,' said Matthew Boyse, a Fellowship founder and a former foreign service officer. But many career U.S. diplomats are suspicious of the organization. They warned me that it could politicize a foreign service that is supposed to be nonpartisan and undermine policymaking by promoting MAGA-infused ideology over facts. Some worry that joining the Fellowship is an unofficial requirement to get ahead in their careers under President Donald Trump, and that its anti-DEI message will hurt women and minorities in a State Department historically dominated by white men. Some also question the qualifications of Fellowship members who have gotten plum assignments. The Fellowship 'seems like a thinly veiled MAGA loyalist roster — like, sign up and you'll be 'one of the good ones,'' said one State Department staffer, who, like others, I granted anonymity because they didn't want to get fired for talking to a reporter. I'll be frank: I wasn't that interested in writing about the Fellowship when I first heard about it months ago. My initial view was: So what if a bunch of right-leaning diplomats link up? It's hardly the only group to cater to national security types across the political spectrum — from the left-leaning Truman National Security Project to the right-leaning Hudson Institute. Freedom of association is still a thing, even for diplomats who, regardless of their personal views, are expected to implement the policies of whoever is president. But I soon concluded that the Fellowship is distinct in its heavy focus on reforming the State Department itself. It is intent on getting people with very specific views into the department, an approach that could affect U.S. foreign policy decades into the future. And I simply couldn't ignore the Fellowship after May 2. That was the day the State Department held its annual Foreign Affairs Day celebration. The event came amid anxiety at State over a reorganization plan that threatens many jobs and Trump's destruction of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Several key speakers were Ben Franklin Fellows. And things got … awkward. The speakers included Lew Olowski, State's acting human resources chief, who touted the Fellowship in his remarks. Olowski's appointment has been derided by diplomats who argue he is too junior and not qualified for the job. Then there was Phillip Linderman. He's a retired diplomat and another Fellowship founder, and he was given a major prize, the Foreign Service Directors General's Cup. At one point, Linderman told the audience he was accepting the award on behalf of 'overlooked' foreign service officers who had 'been intentionally passed over for promotion and assignments abroad' due to 'extreme' DEI policies. Some audience members walked out at this point. Many watching online reached out to me, aghast at Linderman's comments, which they said implied women and minorities who received promotions hadn't deserved them. Also speaking was Landau, the deputy secretary of State. He repeatedly raised the concept of respect and said he was disappointed by the earlier walkouts. But his remarks drew heckles from some audience members who asked why the Trump administration was disrespecting U.S.-allied nations and employees of USAID. Such interruptions were a shocking breach of decorum for an audience of diplomats. In subsequent interviews with the Fellowship's founders — Boyse, Linderman and Simon Hankinson — I've tried to figure out what drives the Fellowship and how much power it truly wields. The answer is, like so much of the world right now, murky. The Fellowship's founders insist they are not trying to inject partisan politics into U.S. diplomacy and that the last thing they want is to create a right-wing 'deep state' inside the government. 'We very much believe in the constitutional order, which is that the federal bureaucracy works for the president, and it doesn't have a policy interest, a legitimate policy interest, outside of what the president wants to do,' Linderman told me. But the Fellowship's leaders argue conservative views are barely represented within the foreign service, which undermines policy debates. So while suspicious diplomats worry the Fellowship will skew policy debates toward one ideology, the Fellowship's leaders say the debates are already unhealthily skewed toward another. Both Hankinson and Linderman said they'd separately thought of setting up a network of conservative diplomats years ago, but Linderman did much of the early legwork that eventually led to the Fellowship. Boyse connected the two men. At State, there have long been different kinds of employee associations. They include 'affinity groups' that link people of different faith, ethnic and other backgrounds, including military veterans. Many on the right saw such groups as vehicles for progressive ideas. The current Trump administration has effectively disbanded many such groups on grounds that they promote gender and racial ideology. For a variety of often logistical reasons, Boyse, Hankinson and Linderman chose to create the Fellowship as an independent nonprofit outside the State Department. That choice also gives the group a bit more freedom than being under State's auspices. Linderman told me he was especially motivated to create the Fellowship, which was up and running by last year, during the Joe Biden presidency. That administration, he said, radicalized the State Department leftward, especially in its promotion of DEI policies and, in his view, a lax treatment of migration. (Linderman is affiliated with the Center for Immigration Studies, which wants to restrict immigration.) When I pressed Linderman about his comments at the award ceremony, he pointed to the Fellowship's roster, which includes women and minorities. These fellows believe in the group's principles and resent being thought of as 'DEI hires,' he said. He and the other founders stress that they don't oppose diversity in general but that it's unfair for a person's immutable characteristics to be given more weight than another's accomplishments in, say, promotions. Linderman also told me he was surprised to receive the award but was told — he wouldn't say by whom — that his work on the Fellowship affected his selection. Despite diplomats' suspicions, I couldn't find proof that the Fellowship is outright directing State Department policy or personnel decisions — at least not as an organization. U.S. diplomats in multiple time zones told me they'd not seen formal, written State communications that mentioned the group. A senior State official familiar with the situation also said he's not heard the group mentioned by top officials as a must-consult entity. But these are early days, and the Fellowship is taking actions designed to seed long-term conservative influence in the diplomatic ranks. Even if creating a conservative 'deep state' is not a formal goal of the Fellowship's founders, a future Democratic president may find a foreign service that's far less amenable to their goals. The State Department would not directly answer my questions about the Fellowship's role, including whether a person's affiliation with the group affects personnel decisions. But it sent me a statement that said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his team 'value the insights, ideas, and leadership provided by members of the Ben Franklin Fellowship. We're grateful for their service to our country.' The Fellowship's founders said there have been one-on-one talks between top State officials and individuals in their group at various settings, but they described that as typical Washington networking. And fellows such as Landau and Olowski, for instance, are likely to have significant influence over hiring given their official positions at State. Hankinson, who also spent years in the foreign service, said the overlap between the group's Fellows and the State staffing chart comes down to math. The pool of current and former U.S. diplomats known to have views that match Trump's is small. 'One of our primary goals is to serve as a network to connect career diplomats and other foreign policy professionals who share the same values — including openly advocating for the U.S. national interest in foreign affairs,' Hankinson said. He added that if a Democratic administration sought Fellowship members' suggestions for hires, they'd offer them ideas, too. 'I suspect that won't happen,' he chuckled. I pointed out that Olowski is much less experienced than past diplomats who've overseen human resources at State. How is that a merit-based promotion? But Hankinson noted that Olowski had the role on an acting basis and argued that he had a solid résumé. Hankinson also said many political appointees under other administrations were underqualified for their roles. The Fellowship's concerns about putting merit over DEI are centered more on the career foreign service, not political appointees. (Olowski did not respond to my request for comment; neither did Landau.) The Fellowship has largely been funded out of its founders' pockets, but it is seeking grants and accepting donations, Hankinson said. One superficial but potentially tricky challenge it will face is differentiating itself from multiple other programs named after Franklin, who is considered America's first diplomat. (That's one reason the group uses 'Ben' instead of 'Benjamin' in its name.) The organization has multiple levels of affiliation, including fellows, members and people who are on the mailing list. Becoming a fellow or a member involves vetting to ensure the applicant agrees with the basic principles of the group, Hankinson said. At the moment, he added, 'we're seeing a lot of interest.'
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The world is now reversing course to reject Trumpism
Another erstwhile American ally felt the Trump effect last week in a big way. In an upset similar to Canada's recent election, Australia voted for the incumbent Labor party against the Trump-like right-winger who led the polls in the run-up to Election Day. (In both cases, the conservative candidate even lost his own seat in the parliament.) Germany, too, just a couple of months ago, managed to beat back the far-right AfD party after Elon Musk and JD Vance stuck their noses in the campaign on its behalf. Something is happening among America's allies, and it's a tremendous relief. For some years now, we've seen the MAGA-infused global right gaining a foothold amongst western democracies, largely driven by the same demagogic, nationalist, pseudo-populism that has fueled Donald Trump's dominance on the American right. Some countries like Hungary have served as a sort of experiment for the kind of post-democratic autocracies dreamt of by the modern right wing in which government co-opts, intimidates and de-legitimizes the political opposition to create an authoritarianism that dominates the culture and the politics without a lot of overt violence. But the rise of the far right among the Western allies seems to be stalling out. The American right during the Trump years has been dazzled by the possibilities of creating a Christian nationalist/tech-utopia (depending on who you talk to). So they have joined forces to destroy their common enemy: the American constitutional framework, the rule of law and the government safety net, all of which they loosely define as "the left." They managed to win the last presidential election and form a majority in the legislature and are now busily enacting their agenda. It's an ugly, depressing spectacle for all the world to see, but America has no one to blame but itself. However, nobody else in the world signed on for what Donald Trump and his Republican henchmen are up to, and the countries most like us are making that very clear to their leadership. They have to. Whether anyone likes it or not, the U.S. is still the most powerful nation on the planet with massive economic clout, military might and a heavy influence on the global institutions it helped build over the past 80 years. Unfortunately, we have decided to put all that in the hands of an aging, incompetent, narcissistic demagogue, and having inexplicably done it twice, we lost the trust of sane people everywhere. People in other countries have good reason to be hostile to the United States. Our president is a very unbalanced person who is awash in resentment over things that are not true and problems that don't exist. His relationship with the rest of the world is based solely on the idea that everyone is "ripping off" America and taking advantage. He's uneducated about history, so he doesn't realize that it was America that built the system he rails against. We did so to create a stable world order that might prevent another catastrophe like the two horrific wars of the 20th century. That system may be fraying at the edges, and it may be time to create a new system of global security, but what Trump is doing is making everyone unsafe. By threatening to invade sovereign nations, treating foreigners in our country like criminals and seeking to dominate the world economically through his daft tariff scheme, he is making the United States into a pariah nation. The Canadian people were ready to elect a conservative government after 10 years of Liberal Party leadership that had run its course. Incumbents have been being thrown out of high office at a record pace ever since the pandemic so it seemed like par for the course. But after Donald Trump took office and decided to treat our closest neighbor, ally and trading partner like an enemy, insisting that the U.S. should annex it and make it into the 51st state, they turned on the Trumpish conservative party and elected the new leader of the Liberals who promised to resist Trump and his hostile aggression. The Canadian conservatives realized too late that the 2025 Donald Trump model is a dud. It was a very similar story in Australia. They, too, saw what was happening with Trump and decided they wanted someone who would fight Trumpism, not emulate it. Again, the conservatives chose a defective model and the Australian voters made it clear that they didn't want any part of it. Germany voted a little bit earlier and people hadn't yet seen the full effect of Trump and his belligerent attempt to dominate the world economically or his ineptitude in dealing with the Ukraine-Russia war. But they were able to see Trump's animosity toward NATO and they watched as his surrogates JD Vance and Elon Musk each made totally inappropriate forays into the election campaign to endorse the AfD, a far-right neo-fascist party that had been gaining in popularity. The AfD underperformed expectations in the election so the center-right leadership remained in control. Just last week the German Intelligence service designated the party a "far-right extremist organization," which, because of Germany's past experience with the most notorious far-right extremist party in history, carries a heavy legal burden in that country that allows the government to use surveillance powers to keep tabs on it. In a stunning display of obnoxious presumptuousness, the secretary of state and the vice president of the United States decided they needed to weigh in on that decision: Rubio's post garnered this reply: I won't even address the hypocrisy of anyone in the Trump administration lecturing others about democracy and tyranny. My Vance's assertion that the AfD is the most popular party in the country, it's only in one poll that it came in one point on top, and it's important to remember that Germany is a parliamentary system with many parties so it's actually the favorite of only 25% of the population. (Even in the East, only 35% support it.) Most Germans do not have a problem with what the government did: According to a representative survey conducted by the polling institute INSA for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper this weekend, 61% of Germans agreed with the categorization of the AfD by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) as "confirmed right-wing extremist endeavor," with 48% supporting a ban. Thirty-seven percent said they would oppose a ban; 15% said they didn't know. It is horrifying that the Republican establishment is now openly endorsing such a party or weighing in publicly on social media about it at all. Germany is a sovereign country and it has a long and painful history that the American right used to understand but apparently no longer does. The good news is that all around the world, democracies are rejecting Trumpism and vowing to protect their sovereignty. If only America had done the same last November, we'd all be better off.
Time of India
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Top US scientist of Indian-origin quits after DOGE hatchet slashes science
Image credit: ASU's website The TOI correspondent from Washington: A top US scientist of Indian-origin resigned as the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), whose $ 9 billion budget funds life-changing research in America, amid allegations that the MAGA-infused Trump administration is gutting science and research in the country. Sethuraman Panchanathan , an alumnus of IIT, Chennai, and Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, resigned with 16 months to go before the end of his six-year term, saying "I believe I have done all I can to advance the mission of the agency and feel that it is time for me to pass the baton to new leadership." "Panch" as he is popularly known among colleagues, did not delve into reasons for his departure, but the broad take-away in scientific circles from his all-staff memo is that he quit due to frustration over White House pressure to cut NSF's $9 billion annual budget and cull the agency's 1,700-person staff. "This is a pivotal moment for our nation in terms of global competitiveness. NSF is an extremely important investment to make US scientific dominance a reality. We must not lose our competitive edge," Dr Panchanathan urged in the memo, even as the Trump/Musk DOGE hatchet hacked at what they consider to be bloated expenditure that funds DEI priorities and non-essential research. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Thousands Are Saving Money Using This Wall Plug elecTrick - Save upto 80% on Power Bill Click Here Undo The NSF has deep ties with Indian institutions such as the Department of Science and Technology and many universities, collaborating in areas like communications, semiconductors, cyberinfrastructure, secure computing, and green technology, directing millions of dollars to joint research. Although NSF does not directly fund Indian researchers or institutions, it channels grants to US researchers collaborating with Indian counterparts. Panchanathan was a key driver of 2023 US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies that was signed in the White House. Although he was appointed to the post by President Trump during his first term, the NSF, like many storied American institutions, is running aground as the Trump-Musk credo of eliminating "waste and fraud" is drying up funding. As with many institutions, including its companion National Institute of Health (NIH), DOGE teams of young whippersnappers are said to have physically infiltrated into the NSF headquarters earlier this month, demanding accountability from senior leadership who they believe have long had a "free run." According to one account, the NSF was directed to terminate over $1 billion in grants and halt new awards that conflicted with President Trump's executive orders relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), clashing directly, given his own background, with Panchanathan's priorities such as increasing diversity in research. Born and raised in Chennai, Dr Panchanathan completed his in Vivekananda College and MSc and MTech at IISC and IIT respectively before coming to Canada for his PhD and later moving to US where he has rose rapidly in scientific, winning praise for his work in assistive and rehabilitative technologies, ubiquitous computing environments for individuals with disabilities, haptic user interfaces, and face/gait analysis and recognition. Among the start-ups he co-founded are MotionEase Inc. and RehabDev LLC, both focused on rehabilitative technologies.
